Many all-star games are considered jokes to some, but perhaps none more than Major League… Many all-star games are considered jokes to some, but perhaps none more than Major League Baseball’s.

The purpose of the game used to be to recognize those players who were having outstanding seasons. For some, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to rise to the top of the baseball world. But the game has changed, and now those players who may be having that one great year of their career are lost in the shuffle of big names and even bigger bucks.

When the MLB All-Star game is played in just a few weeks, it will showcase many players who deserve to be there, but also a number selected based not on performance but popularity. Fan voting corrupts the selection process, ensuring that at least one superstar who is having a horrible year will be voted onto the team. This season proves to be no different.

Once again, Cal Ripken Jr. leads American League third basemen with 429,525 votes. Ripken, a future Hall of Famer known best for his 2,632 consecutive games played, has been a deserving All-Star many times in his career, but his numbers this year are anything but stellar.

He is hitting just .210 with four home runs and 25 RBIs, and has announced that he will retire at the end of the season. He is no longer that player he used to be, and therefore no longer deserves to be a starting All-Star.

Instead, the starting nod should go to Angels third baseman Troy Glaus, who trails Ripken by less than 8,000 votes. Glaus is batting .265 with 18 home runs and 46 RBIs, and while his average may not be all that impressive, it is much more respectable than Ripken’s. Glaus was also the backup to Ripken a year ago, despite hitting .284 with 47 home runs and 102 RBIs.

What is also a bit confusing is how Boston’s Nomar Garciaparra picked up 212,976 votes. While he is fifth among AL shortstops, he has not played once this entire season, and therefore has in no way proved he is worthy of All-Star recognition. It’s sad when fans cannot even vote for someone who is actually playing the game.

In the National League, Mike Piazza leads catchers with 679,287 votes. This comes as no surprise since Piazza is one of the best hitting catchers in the history of the game, but he is certainly not having a good year (.270, 19 home runs, 43 RBIs). Yet he leads the second place catcher, Charles Johnson (.284, 12 home runs, 41 RBIs), by more than 500,000 votes.

But the real mind-boggler in the NL comes in the outfield. Ken Griffey Jr., a man who has just 25 at-bats the entire season, has a chance to make the starting lineup at this year’s All-Star game.

He spent much of the season on the injured list, and when he does play, he is unproductive, hitting .200 with no home runs and just three RBIs. Griffey is currently fourth among NL outfielders, about 1,000 votes away from Luis Gonzalez, who holds third place. Meanwhile, Gonzalez is having another tremendous season in Arizona, hitting .356 with 28 home runs and 62 RBIs.

How anyone could vote for Griffey over Gonzalez is beyond me, but today’s baseball fans are brainwashed to follow stars like Griffey, and will fill the ballots with his name. Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa have secured the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, so now the race is on between Gonzalez and Griffey for the final position in the starting lineup.

Griffey does not deserve to be anywhere near the game, let alone be voted in as a starter.

The All-Star game has become such a joke that many true baseball fans no longer even have an interest in it. Voting needs to be taken away from the fans with the hope that a small amount of fairness can be brought back. Some measure needs to be taken to ensure that players with nonexistent statistics are not being honored as one of the sport’s best.

Karen Bielak is the assistant sports editor of The Pitt News and hates the All-Star break because it means three days without real baseball.